O wad some Power the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us!
( To A Louse) : Robert Burns (1759 – 1796)
Tell that to Bush – Cheney Inc. The New York Times reports that the image of the USA around the world is on a downward slide like Bush’s own approval ratings at home. The downturn is evident even in staunch pro-American countries like India. The Pew Research Center surveyed 16,710 people in Britain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Japan, Jordan, Nigeria, Pakistan, Russia, Spain, Turkey, and the United States. The polling was conducted from March 31 to May 14.
The other significant findings reported are:
- Pessimism about the future of Iraq was widespread.
- All groups except Americans and Germans saw the United States presence in Iraq as posing a greater threat to world peace than the threat posed by Iran.
- The poll found strong majorities in Western Europe, Japan, and India sharing underlying American concerns about Iran.
- The poll found people in most of the 15 countries unhappy with their own national conditions.
- Despite the toll taken by the Iraq war, Americans appeared to be paying less attention than others around the world to the controversies that the war has caused.While 3 in 4 Americans said they had heard reports of abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at the United States naval base in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, substantially more West Europeans and Japanese — 9 in 10 — had heard about them.
- Awareness of global warming was uniformly high in the industrialized countries, but concern about its effects was sharpest in Japan and India, with two-thirds of those polled in both countries expressing great concern.
- Awareness of bird flu was nearly universal.
WASHINGTON, June 13 — As the war in Iraq continues for a fourth year, the global image of America has slipped further, even among people in countries closely allied with the United States, a new global opinion poll has found.
Favorable views of the United States dropped sharply over the past year in Spain, where only 23 percent now say they have a positive opinion, down from 41 percent in 2005… In Britain, Washington’s closest ally in the Iraq war, positive views of America have remained in the mid-50’s in the past two years, down sharply from 75 percent in 2002.
Other countries where positive views dropped significantly include India (56 percent, down from 71 percent since 2005); Russia (43 percent, down from 52 percent); and Indonesia (30 percent, down from 38 percent). In Turkey, a NATO ally of the United States, only 12 percent said they held a favorable opinion, down from 23 percent last year.
The ebbing of positive views of the United States coincides with a spike in feeling that the war in Iraq has made the world a more dangerous place. This perception was shared by majorities in 10 of the countries surveyed, including Britain, where 60 percent said the world had become more dangerous since Saddam Hussein’s removal from power in 2003.
Many respondents distinguished between their largely negative feelings about President Bush and their feelings about ordinary Americans. Majorities in seven countries polled had favorable views of Americans, led by Japan, at 82 percent, and Britain, at 69 percent.
Accidental Blogger 
5 responses to “A Tarnished Halo”
It’s funny, I live in America and even I don’t distinguish between the citizens and the president. We voted him into office, we share the blame (atleast the 50 percent who were brain dead enough to support him). I want to live in New Zealand. Is that how that is spelled? It doesn’t look right with the first ‘a’. sigh I’m just another shabby product of the American educational system. It’s depressing.
By the way: hello. How are you?
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Hi Matt:
I am fine; and you? (you need to let me know if it is possible to leave trackbacks at Cerulean Blue.)
Your US education is just fine. It trained you to detect “asymmetric logic,” after all.
At least the US soccer team is popular even though Bush is not.
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BTW:
You said “brain dead” for those who voted for Bush. So did Brian Leiter on Leiter Reports. My own take on them is a bit different. Check out one of my older posts on this matter.
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I find interesting that the rest of the world is still able to separate between the President (and I will refrain from the choice words I would rather use for the man) and the American people. The reverse would be true in the States where Americans, assuming they know anything about the rest of the world, would likely lump everybody together. The thing I am not surprised by this findings one bit, and unfortunately, the attitude of the powers that be in the States is one of “who cares what the heck they think about us? We know better anyhow.” Much like Matt, would love to go live in New Zealand, or heck just anywhere other than here. The more this administration keeps messing up the country, the more I am ashamed to say I live in it (and no, I was not part of the brain dead, so I am not taking the blame for him or his cronies. I am just sorry the rest of the country has to suffer because of those “brain dead” who put the man into office. I better stop before I stop being so restrained.). Best, and keep on blogging.
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Angel:
You make a very good point about the rest of the world making a distinction between Bush and other Americans. We didn’t quite show the same restraint after 9 / 11 and Iraq, did we? What with our French bashing and Muslims everywhere cowering in fear. Many red necks did not even bother to sort out the various Muslims, non- Muslims, south Asians, middle easterners and even some Latinos to unleash their fury. Being “brown” or “olive skinned” was enough. My own paper carrier, a sweet old man who saw it fit to extract generous Christmas bonuses from me every year, told me calmly after 9 / 11, “Your people did it.” It wasn’t worth my while to engage him in geo-political discussions to enlighten him that India was in fact the target of Al Qaida and the Taliban long before most Americans had heard of them. And of course our IQ challenged congressmen didn’t help matters by jumping on the French / Freedom Fries bandwagon. There is no doubt that the US behaves like a giant baby when it comes to the rest of the world. Petulant, arrogant, dismissive (Rumsfeld’s quip about “old Europe”) and quite immature.
Having said that, you and Matt should just stay put and not be hasty about moving somewhere else – yet. I come from “somewhere else” and let me tell you that the US is still a very good place to live although Bush & Co. have done a thoroughly fantastic job of ruining the character of the nation. Even though the last five years seem like an eternity in hell (twelve more of major irritation if you count the Reagan and Bush I years), this too shall pass. Let us make sure of that in November 2006 and 2008. I am just afraid that it may not be entirely in our hands. The bumbling Dems have a way of snatching defeat from the jaws of sure victory.
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